Sometime back in July after I had returned from another wet, cold, and windy day of fishing I decided that we would have to visit the Minnesota State Fair in August. I was concerned that we might not see a summer on the Gunflint Trail and my pale white children were being deprived of sunshine. They have certainly spent enough time inside the house in the past eight months to justify a vacation during the busiest month of the summer.
Sophia and Bo love animals so it seemed like a logical destination for the family to sneak in a quick vacation from the Trail— and we had a great time despite the 98-degree day.
The kids would have been happy staying in the “Miracle of Birth Center” watching the little piglets feeding off of their mother, but it was a little too crowded for the double wide stroller. Sophia and I counted 16 piglets around a sow with only 12 feeders. I am guessing that four of them are going to get tough in a hurry.
The heat was certainly a concern with the little ones but the breeze was nice and we spent a majority of the time indoors with some short visits to the Kidway rides outside. Sophia was not tall enough to ride on most of the Kidway rides but she did not seem too disappointed since there were so many animals to see.
The food was great and I am proud to say that I did not eat anything on a stick and that is not easy to do. I saw one stand offering a choice of either fried fruit on a stick or a basket of fried olives. I can only assume that people must be buying this stuff or they would not be selling it. I wanted to ask them if the fruit was organic but the line was too long for a joke that wasn’t really that funny.
Fair food does not excite me as much as a tall glass of iced tea when I am pushing a stroller with two kids. If they had stroller service for adults, I would have hired one. What a great way to see the Fair.
I noticed on the drive home that the mysterious cobwebs were still present on the tops of some small trees on the Trail. They did not seem to begin appearing until we were near County Road 92 at the west end of Poplar Lake. They became more prevalent up the Trail in the Sea Gull Lake area. I have been told by an unreliable source that they are the army worm cocoons but I am not sure that is true yet. The last time we saw them was so long ago that I cannot remember what they looked like pre-worm. I do remember that they stripped the landscape of leaves in a couple of weeks’ time and that campers would complain about the “crunching” noise keeping them awake at night. If you know what they are, let me know.
Cory Christianson has worked as a fishing guide on the Gunflint Trail since 2000. If you have any fishing or wildlife reports or stories to share, send an email to: christiansoncory@hotmail.com or call 218- 388-0315. You can also visit Cory’s website at Gunflintfishingguide.com.
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